Electric governor



H. A. BURT AND F. H. WILEY.

ELECTRIC GOVERNOR.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 31. 1919.

Patented Mar. 9, 1920.

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HARVEY A. BURT AND FRED HtWILEY, OF BOULDER, COLORADO.

ELECTRIC GOVERNOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 9, 1920.

Application filed March 31, 1919. Serial No. 286,392.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, HARVEY A. BURT and FRED H. \VILEY, citizens of the United States, residing at Boulder, county of Boulder, and State of Colorado, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric Governors; and we do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact de-' scription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled 1n the art to whlch 1t appertalns to make and use the same, refer ence being had to the accompanying draw-- ings, and to the characters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to controlling devices, designed to control, through an elec-' tric motor or other device, any variable quantity which can be made to operate a contact arm (hereinafter referred to as arm 17) for example, to control the speed of'a water turbine by decreasing or increasing, by means of an electric motor, the supply of water to the turbine; the contact arm being operated by a fly-ball governor; or, to control the current in an electric furnace by raising or lowering the electrode, by means of an electric motor, the contact arm being operated by'suitable coils or magnets in circuit with the current to be controlled. The present invention seeks to control the variable quantity by means of a simple, inexpensive, and reliable device. For purposes of explanation, take the case where it is assumed that a turbine driven by water under head is connected with a governor and the supply of water to the turbine is controlled by a motor or'other device for decreasing or in-' creasing the amount of water to be applied.

This is disclosed in the accompanying drawing, which shows diagrammatically the lay out of the operating mechanism and the electric connections therefor.

In detail, a governor 1 operated by a shaft 2, connected with the turbine, is operatively joined with an arm 3, one end of which is pivoted at 4 to a ball 5,internally threaded and mounted on a screw 6, which in turn is mounted in a bracket 7 and is operable by a hand wheel 8. The opposite end of the arm 3 is connected with a rod 9, the lower end of which enters a socket portion 10 on a rod 12, the lower end of which operates in an oil dash pot 14. The movement between the rod 9 and the socket 1O is modified by means of a spring 15, which allows the usual vibration produced by the governor to take place without moving the rod 12 itself. Only an appreciable and .positive movement of the rod 9 will transmit motion to the socket portion 10 and rod 12, through the medium of the spring 15. At 16 the rod 12 has a connection with a contact arm 17 one end of which is pivotally mounted as at 18. The other end of arm 17 is allowed to swing,

but this motion is limited by set screws 19.

This free end of arm 17 is provided with a plurality of spaced spring contacts, there being two inner contacts, 20 and 22, and two outer contacts, 21 and 23, all of these being suitably insulated. The outer contacts are provided with screws, 21' and 23, for adjusting, to control the amount of movement.

Cotjperating with these contacts is a contact composed of two parts 24 and 25 adapted to be suitably spaced from each other by means of a set screw 26. This contact is mounted on and insulated from a compensating arm 27, pivoted at 28, the oscillation of this arm being controlled by means of set screws 29. This end has a connection at 30 with a vertical rod 31, the lower end of which operates in an oil dash pot 32, and the upper end of which carries a core 33 of the double solenoid 34. A spring 35 is connected at 36 with the solenoid, and adjustably connectedat 37 with rod 31. To cotiperate with the'contact arm 17 and the compensating arm 27, a relay is provided. The relay consists of two coils 40 and 4l, adapted to energize their magnets 40 and 41, respectively. Angle arms 42 and 43,-

52 and 53 being adjustable by means of set' screws 54 and 55. Upon the upperends of" the arms 42 and 43, contacts .56 and 57 are mounted, these being adapted to coiiperate with contacts 58 and 59. A spacing rod 60 having its ends insulated from each other as at 61, is pivoted at 62 to the arm 42 and has a sliding connection 63 with the arm 43.

The sliding connection 63 is sufficient to permit the movement of one of the contacts 5657 to closed position, but not both of I 23 is connected by line 123 with coil 41, the

condensers C being positioned as shown.

Contact 52 is connected with' coil 40 by branch 221, and contact 53 is connected with coil 41 by branch 223. Coil 40 is in circuit with the lower part of the double solenoid 34 by line 321, and coil 41 is in circuit with the upper part of the double solenoid by a line 323, the solenoid being connected with the battery through linelOO. Contacts 56 and 58, by means of wires 70,

are connected to a motor or other suitable V mechanism controlling the flow of water to the turbine which operates the shaft 2, this circuit being adapted to reduce the flow of water to the turbine. The contacts 57 and 59 complete a circuit through wires 72 with the same motor or other mechanism to in crease the supply of water to the turbine.

The operation of the device is as follows:

Assuming that too much water is beingsup plied to the turbine, the governor, 1, elevates the rod 12 and the arm 17. This first causes engagement of contact 20 with contact 24, placing contact 24 in circuit through line 120 with contact 50, but, since there is no engagement between contacts 50 and 52, nothing takes place. W hen the governor further elevates the end of the arm 17, spring contact 20 bends until contact 21 engages therewith. This then causes a current to pass by way of line 121 through coil 40, energizing the magnet 40', drawing the arm 42 into engagement therewith against the tension oi spring 46, and producing contact between points 50 and 52, thereby making it possible for the current to travel through the coil 40 by way of the contacts 50 and 52, and the branch 221.

WVhen arm 42 is drawn by magnet 40 into engagement therewith, the contacts 56 and 58 also are brought into engagement with each other, thereby closing the circuit through the connection 70 and causing the motor to reduce the supply of water to the turbine. At the same time, solenoid 34, by means of line 321, is energized and the core 33 drawn down into its lower position against the tension of spring 35, the movement of the rod 31 being delayed by the j dash pot 32. When the connection 30 is in its lowermost position, the contact 24 will have'been elevated, the spring contact 20 following with it, but the spring contact 21, will break engagement with the contact '20,

; thereby cutting olf the flow of current by line 121 to the coil 40; but current will continue to flow through the contacts 24-20,

line 120, contacts 50-52, and branch 221, through the coil 40 energizingthe magnet 40" and retaining the arm 42 in engagement therewith. In the meantime, the flow 01' current through connection will have con- 70 tinned to cause the motor to reduce the water supply to the turbine.

As soon as the governor 1 begins to slow down a very little, the free arm 17 will be moved down, and contact between points 2O and'24 will be broken. Magnet 40 'will be deenergized and the spring 46 will restore the arm 42 to its normal inoperative position. At the same time the circuit will be broken by the contacts 56 and 58, and the current cut off from the motor. Thereuponthe spring 3 5 will return rod 31 to neutral position. The parts will then remain in their inoperative condition until the speed of the governor runs either too low or too high. If it runs too high again, the operation' just described will take place. I1 it runs too low, the arm 17 will be depressed. The opposite set of contacts 22 and 23 will be brought into play, together with the other coil 41, together. with the respective parts of the relay to operate the motor "for increasing the supply of water to the turbine. It will thus be seen that a simple and inexpensive device has been provided which will control the variable quantity, the important features of the device being, first, the auxiliary solenoid, dashpot, and arm for the W would be an oscillation between high and low); second, the multiple contacts which entirely eliminate eliects of vibration of contacts transmitted from the governor, thus insuring positive operation of the relay.

We claim: I

1. In an electric governor, governor means, a movable contact arm connected with said means and carrying a plurality of contacts, a pivoted compensating arm carrying a contact cooperating with those on the contact arm, a solenoid adapted to move said compensating arm, a magnet adapted to be energized by a passage of current through one of the first mentioned contacts to close a circuit, said solenoid being connected for operation by the same current.

2. In an electric governor, governor means, a movable contact arm connected with said means and carrying a plurality of contacts, a pivoted compensating arm carrying a contact cooperating with those on the contact arm, a solenoid adapted to move said compensating arm, a magnet adapted to be energized by passage of current through one of the first mentioned contacts, an arm adapted to be attracted by said magnet, a contact thereon, a second contact cooperating therewith, the two contacts last named when closed being in circuit with another of said first mentioned contacts to energize said magnet.

3. In an electric governor, governor means, a movable contact arm connected with said means and carrying a plurality of contacts, a pivoted compensating arm carrying a contact cooperating with those on the contact arm, a solenoid adapted to move said compensating arm, a magnet adapted to be energized by passage ofcurrent through one of the first mentioned contacts, an arm adapted to be attracted by said magnet, a contact thereon, a second contact cooperating therewith, the two contacts last named when closed being in circuit with another of said first mentioned contacts to energize said magnet, means to return said solenoid, and means to return the said magnet-attracted arm to inoperative position.

4. In an electric governor, governor means, a movable contact arm connected with said means and carrying a plurality of contacts, a pivoted compensating arm car' rying a contact cooperating with those on the contact arm, a solenoid adapted to move said compensating arm, a magnet adapted to be energized by passage of current through one of the first mentioned contacts, an arm adapted to be attracted by said magnet, a contact thereon, a second contact cooperating therewith, the two contacts last named when closed being in circuit with another of said first mentioned contacts to energize said magnet, and another set of contacts also closable by said magnet to controla supply connected with said governor means.

5. An electric governor, comprising gov ernor means, a contact arm connected therewith, contacts on said arm, a compensating arm, a contact thereon cooperating with said contacts, a solenoid to operate said compensating arm, and a relay in circuit with said arms and said solenoid to close a circuit. I

6. In an electric governor, governor means, a pivoted contact arm connected therewith, two sets of spaced spring contacts on said arm, a pivoted compensating arm carrying a contact cooperating with said spring contacts and positioned between said sets, a double solenoid in circuit with said contacts to move said compensating arm, a pair of coils each in circuit with one contact of each of said sets and also in circuit with said solenoid, magnets energizable by said coils, a movable member attractable by each magnet, a contact on each member, a stationary contact cooperating with each movable contact, each pair of said movable and stationary contacts when in engagement being in circuit with the respective coil and with another one of each of said sets of another set of contacts also closable by said magnets to control a supply controlling said governor means, and means to return said movable contacts and said solenoid to inoperative position when all contacts are broken.

In testimony whereof we afiix our signatures.

HARVEY A. BURT. FRED H. WILEY.

spring contacts, 

